#essential tools

[djwezg]

Ditto Music - How to Promote Your Music Independently

I’m just researching how best to promote my Wez G music and get it into the right hands – I need to expand my global audience and get a bit of traction for my productions within the wider music industry. I discovered this useful little video – from DITTO – and will hopefully adhere to some of the advice.

Ditto Music - How to Promote Your Music Independently

[jbbartram-illu]

Hi! I love your art, it sparks such joy in me :))

And I had a question for you, I work primarily in 2D but I've always been interested in sculpture. What would the essential equipment/tools be for someone wanting to start?

Thanks!!

First off, thank you for your lovely words about my work!

Secondly, the truth: I'm a terrible person to ask about this because the second I get involved in a new type of art, I immediately become a little obsessed with collecting ALL THE TOOLS, and pottery gives you a lot of tools to choose from/collect, oh no.

Despite this shortcoming in my creative urges, I've tried to do a roundup of my most-used tools / put together a selection of tools that, if I only had them, I could still do all the things I like to do on my sculptures. Here we go:

Knife!

Mine is pottery-specific (because I was at a pottery shop & it wasn't expensive), but it doesn't need to be. A dollar store paring knife would work just as well! I use this to cut out things from slabs (eg. wings, crowns, etc) & sometimes to do more dramatic sculpting at the very beginning of a larger piece.

2. Pin tool

I use this for scoring clay to attach bits together, to carve smaller designs (eg. on my teeny sphinxes), etc. It's one of the things you really need as a potter (if you're working on the wheel, you can also use it to check the thickness of your bottom).

3. Wooden sculpting tools

I have a comical number of these (mostly because my mom gave me all her pottery stuff), but these are the three I use the most (plus a narrower-tipped version of the pointy one, not pictured). I use them for sculpting my forms before I scoop their insides out, more sculpting after the scooping, to blend the edges when I've attached a limb/other bit to a piece, and to add texture/details. I also use the very blobby end of the one on the right to compress/smooth the insides of smaller sculptures once I've scooped them out.

4. Paintbrushes

Since I'm also an illustrator & paint with watercolour & gouache, I've got an endless supply of brushes that are exhausted from rough watercolour paper but still have a lot of life in them -- now those become brushes for sculpting & glazing! During the sculpting phase, I use them to add water to my scored sections when I'm attaching bits together (I like to live dangerously & just use water instead of slip, like a real ceramics badboy), to smooth out bits where my fingers/a sponge won't fit, and to gently re-wet bits that are drying too fast. Absolutely indispensable!

5. Scoopin' tool (aka trimming tool if you pot on the wheel)

As with almost all of my tools, I have a bunch of these (mostly inherited from my mom, who was mostly a wheel potter so had a bunch of them), but I just got this one for Xmas & the circular end is the best yet for scooping the insides out of my creatures! You could also use these for sculpting, but I find my little knife/wood tools easier to control - these sometimes get a bit gouge-y.

6. Sponges!

Sponges in general are important for ceramics (I also have some cheap cut up hardware store sponges for cleanup purposes), but I find that these Mudtools sponges are the best for actual sculpting - they don't hold as much water & are easier to wring out than the type of sponges you get for wheel throwing, so your sculpture doesn't get sad & goopy, they're amazing for smoothing your surfaces, & the thin edges get into smaller areas vs. other sponges. I'm also hoping they're super durable - I got these at xmas, so have just started using them & can't give any info on that yet.

7. Texture tools!

I love to add texture to my sculptures - feathers, hair, etc, and these sgraffito tools are great for that (whether you're actually doing sgraffito or not)! I have a few (including a set of Xiem ones in all different shapes), but these two are the ones I use the most.

BONUS THINGS:

A few other things I find important to my pottery setup include:

A spray bottle (my bigger Ikea one broke, so I'm using this wee one that came from a travel watercolour set...really need to get another big one!)

A bigger basin/tub for cleanup/cleaning tools while you work (you can also see a couple of my tool/desk-cleaning sponges here). I do keep a smaller bowl of water on my desk while I sculpt, but I find having a bigger water source helps, as I often need to clean tools while I work & would rather not have to go to the sink for that (or dirty my desk-water too much).

Yogurt containers for dried clay bits/tupperwares for sculptures in progress. I have great aspirations of recycling my clay scraps, so I keep them in labelled containers for when I get my butt in gear to do that. These little tupperwares are great for keeping chunks of clay & sculptures in progress because you can spritz up the whole box & get a nice humid atmosphere to prevent drying out if you need to leave them for a few days.

EXTRA BONUS: tools you don't need but that I find extremely useful

Pony roller! It has the best name AND is great for rolling out little slabs/bevelling the edges of them (with the littler bottom roller)

Clay paddle. I feel *insert gif of Rosa from Brooklyn 99 with the puppy* about this tool, which I just got for Xmas. It's AMAZING for roughly shaping lumps of clay before I get into more detailed sculpting, and makes mashing two chunks of clay back into one chunk WAY easier. 11/10, love this tool so much.

Lastly, this isn't a tool, but this stuff is the BEST moisturizer if you do anything with your hands/live in a place with harsh dry winters & would like to keep your knuckles in one piece (I also love it while I'm drawing - I can hold the pencil right away?? Magic?!). It sinks in super quickly, doesn't make your hands all sad & slippery for ages, AND it lasts for a while even if you've got clay & water on & off your hands all the time. Great stuff.

If you got to the end of this, THANK YOU for your great question! I had a lot of fun figuring out my essential tools (tho obviously you don't need all of these to make great work...these are just my most important ones!) and then...uh, rambling on about them, apparently.

[lavandamichelle]

The Best Spring Garden Tools Every Gardener Needs

Spring is here, and it’s the perfect time to get your hands dirty and start planting. But before you dive into your garden, it’s essential to have the right tools to help you work efficiently and effectively. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, having the right gear can make all the difference in achieving a beautiful and productive garden. In this guide, we’ll walk through…

The Best Spring Garden Tools Every Gardener Needs

[thewellnesscenterpharmacy]

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